Meyer, 79, declined to comment on the possible sale, citing confidentiality concerns. He said he plans to continue farming on 70 acres he owns in nearby Fremont Township.

Farmland in Lake County can go for $50,000 to $150,000 per acre, with higher prices for land that has zoning and utilities in place for builders, said Tom Hahn, executive director of the Lake County Forest Preserve District.

During a meeting this week of the Libertyville Plan Commission, the developer detailed its plans for a six-building industrial park with more than 1,800 parking spaces.

The Village Board is expected to vote on the plan next month.

The village annexed the 63 acres more than a decade ago for the purpose of converting the land to industrial use.

"Communities like this type of project because it brings jobs," said Anthony Pricco, a McShane vice president who believes construction could begin this fall.

Although no tenants are lined up, Pricco said the single-story buildings could house a combination of manufacturing and distribution firms.

The hundreds of new jobs likely to be created by the industrial park would help provide employment opportunities for residents near their homes.

"One of our goals is to have a community where people can actually work in the community where they live," said John Spoden, the village's director of community development.

It also would create a new tax-revenue stream for the village, which has no plans to continue building residential units in what little open land it has left.

"We're built out with the exception of some infill lots here and there," Mayor Jeffrey Harger said. "Our only open land is for commercial or industrial development."

The industrial center also would provide new property-tax dollars without creating more students for schools in Fremont Township, where the Meyer site is located.

"It's a good move because we need that extra tax base for these schools, and they need help," Fremont Township Supervisor Pete Tekampe said.

Gregory Koeppen, executive director of the Lake County Farm Bureau, said disappearing farmland has become a fact of life in the county.

Once the dominant form of land use in Lake County, farm property dwindled from more than 173,000 acres in 1950 to 39,000 acres in 2002, according to the most recent figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"We always hate to see farmland kind of succumb to development, but we know it's part of the evolution of this country," Koeppen said. "The nice thing is that almost all of the farmers purchase other farms in central or southern Illinois."